Gaziantep Cuisine

The way to explore Gaziantep properly is through the city’s incomparable cuisine. The food of Antep enchanted the “king of travelers”, Evliya Çelebi, who declared the city the “capital of gourmets”. Although Gaziantep cuisine is famous for kebabs, its real wealth and variety lie in dishes cooked at home. There are many different kinds of soup, all amazingly tasty; the dishes with yoghurt are wonderful; and those with a little meat and lots of vegetables are nutricious and healthy. The dolmas made with dried peppers and aubergines, and the stuffed vine leaves are packed with flavor. As for yuvarlama (a soup made with chickpeas and meatballs), this is indescribably delicious, and an essential dish during Ramazan Bayramı (Eid al-Fitr).

Gaziantep’s rich history and geographic location make it one of the most important cities in the country, and the unique culture expressed in the variety of its dishes enrich Turkish cuisine as a whole. Gaziantep cuisine has something to please almost every palate, and the secret of its taste lies not only in the skill and experience of those who cook the dishes. The heightened aroma and full flavor of the animal and vegetable products raised and grown locally under natural conditions also contribute. The main characteristics of Gaziantep cuisine are as follows:

1- A wide variety of herbs and spices are used, for example, saffron or mint in yoghurt dishes, tarragon in some soups and other dishes, cumin in liver kebab, fennel in the sweet dish of mixed grains and pulses called aşure, and cinnamon in rice pudding.

2 – While one or two types of ekşi (tart seasoning) are used in other regions, there are seven different kinds in Gaziantep, each used in specific dishes. Seasonings used to impart a little sharpness are lemon juice, citric acid, unripe grapes and a syrup made from them, sumac and sumac syrup, and pomegranate syrup.

3 – Fresh garlic- delicious, and with appetite-whetting and healthful properties- is widely used, in fact there is even a dish where garlic is the main ingredient, and another in which it is combined half-and half with broad beans.

Here are some restaurants where you can sample a full range of local specialities:

One should never leave Gaziantep without trying a kebab. The varieties vary according to season. In springtime, look for the ‘Keme Kebabı’ made with a type of truffle, and don’t miss the ‘Yeni Dünya’ (with loquats) and the ‘Sarımsak’ (garlic) kebabs. The ‘Sebzeli Kebap’ (vegetable kebab) with fresh garlic and parsely is especially delicious. In summer, tomatoes and aubergine come to the fore. ‘Alinazik’ makes the most of aubergine, while ‘Ezmeli Kebap’ features full-flavoured summer tomatoes. When the sun loses its heat, the ‘Soğan Kebabı’- onion kebab is a great comfort food to keep you warm in winter. The most famous of all is the Cağırtlak Kebabı with liver, which is a favourite in almost all weather. It is a popular breakfast dish, especially at the pre-dawn meal during the month of Ramazan.

A piece of lamb on the bone is boiled for 12 hours, then removed from the bone and shredded. Rice is boiled with a little butter. The rice and meat are put in a copper pan with some red pepper flakes, and cooked together on high heat. Meat stock is gradually added to the pan.

This tasty dish is called Beyran, and is a breakfast time favourite of Gaziantep people.

Evliya Çelebi said of Antep, “Because all its people eat desserts, they speak sweetly”. With baklava available on every corner, Antep is truly a paradise for those with a sweet tooth.

Besides baklava, other popular sweets in Antep are şöbiyet (with cream), bülbülyuvası (literally “nightingale’s nest, due to its shape) and the emerald green dolama.

There are many fine points that play a role in achieving good baklava, such as deciding how thin to roll the dough and how to prepare the butter, the degree of humidity in the environment, the effect of a breeze, the quality of the flour, the type of wood charcoal used in the oven, and the skill of the chef. However, the chefs who make true Antep baklava are undoubtedly those who continue to make baklava in the same way it has been done for a century, keeping alive this traditional skill. That is why the name Gaziantep is so strongly identified with good baklava.

Dough rolled out very finely, filled with clotted cream, lots of pistachios and some sugar, and then folded into an envelope and cooked in the oven-this is katmer, a delicious treat which is hard to find anywhere but Antep.

If you would like to try it, you should definitely visit one of the places listed to the side.

There is one more speciality in Gaziantep, but you have to wait 11 months of each year to sample it. It is worth going to Gaziantep during Ramazan, because even the people of Antep have to wait until then to enjoy this. This treat is Ramazan kâhkesi, a kind of sweetish, delicious-smelling bun. Its aroma wafts through the streets at the hour of the iftar – the evening meal during Ramzan, summoning all the people of Antep to prepare to break their fast. Lines form in front of the kâhke bakeries, and rows of kâhke are arranged on street stands stands in the blink of an eye. The smell of the Ramazan kâhkesi has a unique appeal- the sourish, hot, yeasty smell and the sweetish aroma of the mahaleb cherry, mouthwatering among that of other beguiling spices.

Regular kâhke is available all year round, however, and is a kind of crispy cookie or cracker that can be either sweet- like the cookies made with tahin (sesame paste), or savoury like the simit with sesame. One of the most unusual and delightful is definitely the köylü kâhkesi which is made with lots of spices. This “village-style” kahke is not very sweet, containing grape molasses in place of sugar; nigella sativa and fennel seeds add a pleasant crunchiness, and these and other spices impart a really interesting taste.

They say you can’t go to Gaziantep and leave without having a kebap and some baklava, and the same is definitely true of kâhke. In fact, don’t just eat it here- it stays fresh for a long time, so be sure to take some packets home for friends and family.

Having tasted Gaziantep’s delicious dishes, you will surely want to buy some local food to take home. Top recommendations are the Antep cheese that comes in little balls, tomato and pepper pastes, pomegranate-sumac syrup, and tarragon. At the Wheat Bazaar you will find mung beans, black lentils, green wheat, pounded wheat, cracked wheat, ring-shaped sesame bun, cake flour and more. Firik has a unique, lightly smoked taste, and is made by roasting the immature green wheat in the field.

A little further up, you can find old and new copper utensils, dolma taşı – earthenware covers used when cooking stuffed vine leaves, special molds for shaping the pistachio cookies called kerebiç, and skewers. At the Elmacı Bazaar there are all manner of sweets, such as cevizli sucuk – a walnut and grape molasses “sausage”, and varieties of dried fruit rollups called pestil and bastık. The most suitable type of pistachio for cooking- especially for desserts, is the type known as “bird droppings”, that is, the immature, bright green kind.

You will not easily find these special blends of herbs and spices for meatballs elsewhere. The spice mix for dolma – stuffed vegetables, and cumin are of very good quality. You really must try the spice mix called zahter, and the drink called menengiç kahvesi too.

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The contents of this publication, which has been prepared by the 2013 Economic Development Financial Support Programme of the Silk Road Development Agency does not represent the views of the Silk Road Development Agency and/or the Ministry of Development. Sole responsibility for the content lies with Neva Bilgi Teknolojileri Medya ve Danışmanlık Hizmetleri San. Tic. Ltd. Şti.

Rumkale Tour and Alternative

If you pass by the village of Şenlikçe to the east of Yavuzeli, don’t miss the house with Roman remains in the garden. The 1.5 ton limestone sarcophagus is just lying in the garden of a village house. It was discovered during digging for sewage works, and dates from the Roman period.

Travelling southwest from Balıklıgöl and turning right onto an asphalt road after one km, the Yarımca Quarry is about 500 m along, on the barren hillside to the left. The stones quarried here were used in the nearby Roman road and bridge. On the vertical cut face of the quarry is carved a relief depicting a god, and an eagle on the left.

Going southwest from Balıklıgöl for one km and following the path to the left, you will reach the Sultan Murad Bridge via a route running parallel to the Merzimen Stream. The road is rough, but still passable by car. The bridge, which dates from 200 AD, is surrounded by mountains.

Balıklıgöl is in the village of Yarımca, about 10 km east of Yavuzeli. Proceed past the fields surrounded by pistachio trees, and over the Ibrahim Alan bridge.

Nobody eats the fish in this 250 m2 pool as they are considered sacred. Local people explain that the fish arise spontaneously in the natural underground spring which wells up here. The wishing trees around the pool are festooned with rags symbolizing the many wishes they have perhaps helped come true.

To see the Late Bronze Age Dolmen Tombs, go northwards on the Yavuzeli to Araban road. Called gavrikul (stones with holes) by locals, the tombs are 2 km north of the hamlet of Akkuyu near Küçükkarakuyu Village.

A dolmen is a megalithic, single-chambered tomb, consisting of a giant, flat stone block laid on top of three upright ones. The fallen stones of another ruined tomb can be seen next to the intact dolmen. Further stones in this 850 m2 area in the limestone foothills of Karadağ, are evidence that there were once numerous dolmens here.

The 30-metre-high tumulus you will see when you come to the town of Yavuzeli is known as Cingife Castle, Cingife being the former name of the town. According to hearsay, the name derives from a Genoese settlement that existed here at an uncertain date in the past.

Fortress walls and stones from ramparts appear in various places on the sides of the mound. Closer examination reveals traces of Early Bronze Age buildings. Yavuzeli grew up around the tumulus and the town’s first houses, made of mudbrick, can be seen today on the east, south, and west sides of the tumulus. At the top of the mound is a concrete building and transmitting antenna.

The Akdeğirmen Bridge is on the Merzimen Stream, 4 km south of Ballık Village and 28 km along the old Gaziantep to Yavuzeli road travelling northwest.

The bridge is built of ashlar and is well-preserved. It spans the Merzimen Stream from north to south; and is 60 metres long, 5 metres wide and 4 metres high. It has a total of six arches, one main pointed arch flanked by smaller ones.

The ruins of the Saraymağara Watchtower are about 25 km northeast of Dülük Village, by the side of the road linking the villages of Saraymağara and Büyükkarakuyu.

The tower was on the ancient road connecting Doliche and Samosata in Roman times, and traces of the road can still be seen. Seven rows of the northeast wall of the watchtower are still standing at the entrance to a vineyard house, but the other walls are largely destroyed. Nowadays, rather than an ancient ruin, it seems more like a recently demolished part of the house next door.